1. The present First Appeal has been filed under Section 21 (a) (ii) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 by the appellant/opposite party no.3 being aggrieved of the order dated 14.09.2023, passed by the learned Madhya Pradesh State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Bhopal (for short the 'State Commission') in consumer complaint No. 07 of 2004.

2. Heard the learned counsel for the appellant on the delay condonation application being IA/1706/2026.

3. The learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the delay in filing of the present appeal was caused for the lack of proper coordination between the Head Office, Regional Office and the concerned dealing office regarding the requirement of filing an appeal against the impugned order. The internal approval mechanism in a Public Sector Undertaking involves multiple levels of scrutiny. The said delay is purely on account of administrative and communication gaps. He further submitted that during the relevant period while transferring the records from the concerned regional office of the appellant, the case files and connected documents were inadvertently misplaced in the office records. The learned counsel relied upon the following case laws:

                          1. Kishor Kumar Lal Vs. Sandhya Lala, 2017 (2) CHN (CAL) 218 decided on 06.02.2017

                          2. Brij Kishore S. Ghosh Vs. Jayantilal Maneklal Bhatt & Ors. AIR 1989 Guj 227 decided on 04.07.1988.

4. Considered the submissions so made and perused the record and also gone through the case laws.

5. There is a reported a delay of 781 days, beyond the prescribed period of thirty days for filing of the appeals.

6. The impugned order was passed on 14.09.2023 and the appeal was filed on 09.12.2025. The copy of the impugned order was received by the appellant on 20.09.2023. The appellant is a company having sufficient wherewithal. The reasons given in the delay condonation application and the submissions made by the learned counsel are not convincing enough to condone a huge delay of 781 days. The case laws cited above by the learned counsel for the appellant are also of no help to the appellant as the facts and circumstances are different.

7. Being a Consumer dispute, such condonation would defeat the purpose of the Consumer Protection Act. This is a Consumer Complaint related matter and has to be decided in a time bound manner and condoning delay beyond a reasonable time, without sufficient cause, would go against the letter and spirit of the Consumer Protection Act.

In Lingeswaran Etc. vs. Thirunagalinman, Special Leave to Appeal (C) Nos. 2054- 2055/2022, decided on 25.02.2022, the Hon'ble Supreme Court held as under:

                          "We are in complete agreement with the view taken by the High Court. Once it was found even by the learned trial Court that delay has not been properly explained and even there are no merits in the application for condonation of delay, thereafter, the matter should rest there and the condonation of delay application was required to be dismissed. The approach adopted by the learned trial Court that, even after finding that, in absence of any material evidence it cannot be said that the delay has been explained and that there are no merits in the application, still to condone the delay would be giving a premium to a person who fails to explain the delay and who is guilty of delay and laches. At this stage, the decision of this Court in the case of Popat Bahiru Goverdhane v. Land Acquisition Officer, reported in (2013) 10 SCC 765 is required to be referred to. In the said decision, it is observed and held that the law of limitation may harshly affect a particular party but it has to be applied with all its rigour when the statute so prescribes. The Court has no power to extend the period of limitation on equitable grounds. The statutory provision may cause hardship or inconvenience to a particular party but the Court has no choice but to enforce it giving full effect to the same."

                          In Brijesh Kumar & Ors. vs. State of Haryana & Ors., 2014 (11) SCC 351, it was held in paragraphs 7, 8 and 9 as under:

                          7. The issues of limitation, delay and laches as well as condonation of such delay are being examined and explained every day by the Courts.

                          The law of limitation is enshrined in the legal maxim "Interest Reipublicae Ut Sit FinisLitium" (it is for the general welfare that a period be put to litigation). Rules of Limitation are not meant to destroy the rights of the parties, rather the idea is that every legal remedy must be kept alive for a legislatively fixed period of time.

                          8. The Privy Council in General Fire and Life Assurance Corporation Ltd. v. Janmahomed Abdul Rahim, AIR 1941 PC 6, relied upon the writings of Mr. Mitra in Tagore Law Lectures 1932 wherein it has been said that "a law of limitation and prescription may appear to operate harshly and unjustly in a particular case, but if the law provides for a limitation, it is to be enforced even at the risk of hardship to a particular party as the Judge cannot, on applicable grounds, enlarge the time allowed by the law, postpone its operation, or introduce exceptions not recognised by law."

                          9. In P.K. Ramachandran v. State of Kerala & Anr., AIR 1998 SC 2276, the Apex Court while considering a case of condonation of delay of 565 days, wherein no explanation much less a reasonable or satisfactory explanation for condonation of delay had been given, held as under:-

                          "Law of limitation may harshly affect a particular party but it has to be applied with all its rigour when the statute so prescribes and the Courts have no power to extend the period of limitation on equitable grounds."

8. In the aforementioned circumstances, the delay condonation application is hereby rejected consequently the present first appeal is also dismissed at the admission stage itself, being time-barred.

Interim applications pending, if any, shall stand disposed of accordingly. Let the file be consigned in the record room after necessary action.